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P-40 Warhawk
The P-40 was the workhorse of the Allied aerial arsenal right through 1944. It may not have been as "hot" as later designs, but it was a sound design, based on the earlier P-36, mated to the Allison V-1710 engine, that Curtis was able to produce in large numbers. As Clair Chennault found out in China, the P-40 was heavier, faster, and sturdier than Japanese fighters, and it out-gunned them as well. Properly handled and below 15,000 feet, it was a lethal. Colonel (later General Claire Lee Chennault) had been in China since the mid-Thirties. An outspoken advocate of "pursuit" (as fighter planes were called then), in an Army Air Force dominated by strategic bomber theorists, he alienated many of his superiors. But in China, equipped with P-40's, he developed the basic fighter tactics that American pilots would use throughout the war. The Japanese planes used over China were much more maneuverable than his Warhawks, whose advantages were speed in a dive, superior firepower, and better ability to absorb battle damage. Chennault worked out and documented the appropriate tactics that capitalized on the relative strengths of the American fighters: intercept, make a diving pass, avoid dogfighting, and dive away when in trouble. This remained the fundamental U.S. fighter doctrine throughout the Pacific War. Chennault's American Volunteer Group, popularly known as "The Flying Tigers" flew their P-40B's and P-40C's with great success against the Japanese aircraft. Joel Paris was a P-40 ace with the 49th Fighter Group in the Southwest Pacific. In Fire in the Sky: The Air War in the South Pacific, he relates his opinion of the P-40: I never felt that I was a second-class citizen in a P-40. In many ways I thought the P-40 was better than the more modern fighters. I had a hell of a lot of time in a P-40, probably close to a thousand hours. I could make it sit up and talk. It was an unforgiving airplane. It had vicious stall characteristics. ... If you knew what you were doing, you could fight a Jap on even terms, but you had to make him fight your way. He could out-turn you at slow speed. You could out-turn him at high speed. When you got into a turning fight with him, you dropped your nose down so you kept your airspeed up, you could out-turn him. At low speed he could out-roll you because of those big ailerons. They looked like barn doors on the Zero. If your speed was up over 275, you could out-roll it. His big ailerons didn't have the strength to make high speed rolls ... {C You could push things, too. Because you knew one thing: If you decided to go home, you could go home. He couldn't because you could outrun him. He couldn't leave the fight because you were faster. That left you in control of the fight. Mind you: The P-40 was a fine combat airplane. Robert DeHaven, a 14 kill ace, also with the 49th F.G., scored ten of his kills in the P-40. The British also used the P-40, called Tomahawk and Kittyhawk, especially in the North African and Mediterranean Theatres. Category:Planes Category:Fighter Planes